Twitter expands tweets and display names

Here’s the replay of Monday 13 November’s The #SocialMediaShow which was broadcast live via my Facebook Profile from Cardiff, Wales. The big news this week was Twitter’s expansion on the character limit on tweets from 140 to 280 characters then a few days later they expanded display names too…now they just need their user numbers to expand. Read more on this plus the the rest of the week’s 27 social media news stories below plus insights in italics including announcements of plenty of new features. Plus as usual there’s Headline, Question Time, Tip Of The Tip, Tools Talk plus Number of the Week.

FACEBOOK NEWS
1. In Australia, Facebook are testing a new and surprising method for combating revenge porn. Users are encourage to upload nudes which are then hashed (turned into encrypted 1s and zeros) and used to recognise subsequently unauthorised uploads of the victim. Sounds like a hoax but it’s true. But would you trust Facebook to this extent?
2. Housing rental properties are being added to MarketPlace in the US. A useful addition to Facebook’s version of eBay.
3. Facebook is testing a 5-second video preview feature in countries with high data costs or poor data connectivity.
4. Facebook is marking and hiding Comments as Spam whilst giving the option to view them.
5. Some users are seeing a ‘Tag event’ button (including me) when creating a Facebook post.
6. Facebook has relaunched its retired Events App as Facebook Local with a guide to bars and restaurants, a map with search engine plus a calendar. Currently available in the US only.
7. Facebook have added a new Crisis Donate button. Encourages people to donate during a crisis.

FACEBOOK LIVE NEWS8. Some users on Facebook are being prompted to do a Live video when checking in to a location. The push for more Live video continues.
9. Facebook is warning users about using Live in spammy ways. About time.

FACEBOOK MESSENGER NEWS
10. A new platform will soon be available for websites complete with Facebook chat plugin customer service function and significantly, payments. It will be rolled out to all but is currently being tested in closed beta. Nice to be able to have free access to 1.2 billion monthly Facebook Messenger users.
11. Payment sending is coming to UK. It’s nearly here. Under my + icon on the Android app I have an option for Payments although it’s not enabled yet.

FACEBOOK WORKPLACE NEWS
12. Facebook is teaming up with Salesforce to improve its Facebook Workplace service. The partnership is designed to bring Salesforce’s enterprise software tools g Salesforce’s Quip word processing and spreadsheet tools, into Facebook. Facebook is taking on LinkedIn and Microsoft with this initiative where a social networking platform is combined with productivity tools.

INSTAGRAM NEWS13. Instagram now allows any photos and videos taken beyond 24 hours ago to be uploaded to Instagram Stories. A date sticker will be added but as with other stickers you can move or remove. Should give the every popular Stories another boost.
14. Instagram expanded its branded content tool to more celebrities and influencers. The tool helps users better identify sponsored posts, creates a standardized format that clearly indicates that a post is a paid partnership from an advertiser or sponsor, and provides data about a post’s performance. It will also notify accounts when it detects that they’ve shared branded content without using this tool and give them the option to tag a business in their post.
15. Saved posts, a feature recently introduced on the apps, are now available on the web version of Instagram for some users.

LINKEDIN NEWS
16. Sales Navigator Lite, a free extension for Chrome was launched this week to replace Rapportive. It provides LinkedIn information on senders and recipients to Gmail and G-Suite users. I love this improvement on Rapportive and use it several times per day.
17. A LinkedIn CV (resume) assistant in Word will be available in coming months. It was an odd decision for LinkedIn to retire their CV Builder so great to see a replacement is on its way.
18. LinkedIn has blocked individuals from advertising jobs on its site in China, after it ran afoul of new government regulations requiring it to verify their real identities. One of the few social networking sites in China, LinkedIn has to be careful to comply with all regulations otherwise it risks being shut down.
19. According to MediaShift, LinkedIn engagement is on the rise with some companies now experiencing more engagement on posts published on LinkedIn compared with Facebook. Being active LinkedIn is a must for B2B companies wishing to raise awareness.

TWITTER NEWS
20. The 140 character limit in tweets has been doubled to 280 characters. Good to see Twitter adopt one of my suggestions made in September.
21. There’s a new progress counter – a circle that changes colour as you type. I’m not too keen on it as it’s hard to know exactly how many characters you have left.
22. Not content with the tweet limit the character limit for Twitter names has been extended to 50 characters. There’s a marketing opportunity here.
23. Twitter’s account verification has been suspended whilst it’s reviewed.

PINTEREST NEWS
24. Sections or boards within boards are coming soon. Eg a venue section could be setup within event board. Handy.

SOCIAL ADVERTISING NEWS25. There’s new campaign budget optimisation from Facebook. Advertisers can set one central campaign budget to optimize across ad sets by distributing budget to the top-performing ad sets in real time and set a daily or lifetime campaign budget for each ad set.
26. News Feed ads with direct links to Facebook Messenger are now available to all advertisers. Looking forward to trying these.
27. A new relevancy score on Boosted Posts is available following a campaign.

And finally:
The @KFC Twitter account follows just 11 people. The 5 spice girls and 6 men called Herb. But do you know why? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tip Of The Week: Here’s some advice from LinkedIn on writing articles – Share your professional expertise and suggest titles such as “What will (or should) your industry look like in 5, 10, or 15 years and how will it get there?” and “What advice do you have for career advancement?” More help here: Tips for writing articles on LinkedInTools Talk: huggg.me – With huggg you can send coffee, cocktails or burgers to your friends. Ideal for thanking people for referrals etc.Number Of The Week: 100,000 articles are published on LinkedIn every week.

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